SWIMM: Saving Whales with Innovative Monitoring and Mitigation

2017年北大西洋露脊鲸（NARW）死亡危机要求立即采取全面行动，以减轻船只撞击和渔具纠缠造成的致命风险。这些行动似乎取得了成功，但政府、工业和当地经济付出了相当大的代价。监测、政策和管理需要更适应有关NARW在加拿大存在和分布的新知识，以防止灭绝并保护加拿大的市场准入。我们建议研究先进的NARW评估和监测技术，以量化风险，并制定适应性，可持续的解决方案，以保护不断变化的海洋中的鲸鱼。我们将进行四个研究主题。第一种是使用自主水下滑翔机对鲸鱼进行低成本、实时被动声学监测（PAM）。第二部分将确定生境变化的环境和人为原因和后果。第三个将更好地量化鲸鱼的健康和环境污染物。第四次评估船舶撞击和渔具风险及缓解备选方案，包括制定和传播近乎实时的风险估计，为动态和有针对性的风险缓解提供信息。通过与来自加拿大和国际各行业的20多个组织的合作，这个充满活力的多学科项目成为可能。该项目在评估以前和现有风险缓解战略的有效性方面具有追溯性，在确保决策者掌握当前法规的最佳信息方面具有及时性，在提出考虑经济和保护目标的动态、数据驱动的解决方案方面具有前瞻性。通过我们的研究开发的技术和专业知识将有助于巩固加拿大在鲸鱼研究和海洋技术方面的全球领导者地位，同时培养下一代年轻科学家。推荐人应该认识到，除了巴克莱博士（联合首席执行官）之外，提案的大部分都是由光明的未来一代撰写的：K戴维斯博士、J范德胡普博士、H约翰逊博士、M卡尔和D杜雷特-莫林。

The 2017 North Atlantic right whale (NARW) mortality crisis required immediate, broad-sweeping actions tomitigate lethal risk from vessel strikes and fishing gear entanglement. The actions appear successful atconsiderable cost to government, industry and local economies. Monitoring, policy and management needs tobe more adaptable to new knowledge on NARW presence and distribution in Canada to prevent extinction andprotect Canadian market access. We propose research that advances state-of-the-art NARW assessment andmonitoring technology to quantify risks and develop adaptive, sustainable solutions to protect the whales in achanging ocean. We will pursue four research themes. The 1st focuses low-cost, real-time passive acousticmonitoring (PAM) of the whales using autonomous underwater gliders. The 2nd will identify environmentaland anthropogenic causes and consequences of habitat variability. The 3rd will better quantify whale health andenvironmental contaminants. The 4th assess vessel strike and fishing gear risk and mitigation options,including the development and dissemination of near real-time risk estimates to inform dynamic and targetedrisk mitigation. This vigorous multidisciplinary program is made possible through collaborations with 20+organizations from all sectors in Canada and internationally. The program is retrospective in assessing theefficacy of previous and existing risk-mitigation strategies, timely in ensuring decision-makers have the bestinformation regarding current regulations, and forward-looking by proposing dynamic, data-driven solutionsthat are mindful of economic and conservation goals. The technologies and expertise developed through ourresearch will help solidify Canada's role as a global leader in whale research and ocean technology, whiletraining the next generation of young scientists. Referees should recognize that in addition to D Barclay(co-PI), the majority of the proposal was written by a bright future generation: Dr K Davies, Dr J van derHoop, H Johnson, M Carr and D Durette-Morin.